AP-Religion Roundup
     
Update on the latest in religion news:

HAITI-AMERICANS DETAINED
     
US Baptists' attorney in Haiti: Clients innocent

     
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - The new lawyer for 10 U.S. Baptists
charged with child kidnapping says he believes they had paperwork
to take 33 children out of the country after Haiti's devastating
earthquake.
     
Attorney Aviol Fleurant's remarks came as investigators
questioned the Baptist group's leader, Laura Silsby. As she left a
courthouse in Port-au-Prince, Silsby told reporters, "I am
trusting in God to reveal all truths and that we will be released
and exonerated of charges."
     
The rest of the group's members will be questioned this week
over allegations they tried to take the children to the neighboring
Dominican Republic without proper documents.
     
The Baptists' Dominican lawyer, Jorge Puello, told a news
conference that the Haitian court would drop all charges against
his clients on Wednesday. Puello would not say where that
information came from. Last week, he claimed nine of the 10 were
about to be released.

TOYOTA-PRAYERS
     
Kentucky lawmaker seeks prayers for Toyota

     
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - A Kentucky lawmaker whose district
includes a Toyota plant is urging people to pray for the automaker
and its employees amid massive recalls that have tarnished the
company's image.
     
State Rep. Charlie Hoffman says, "we definitely need to be
pulling for them and praying for them to get through this
situation."
     
Hoffman notes that many families depend on jobs provided by
Toyota in "these perilous economic times." The automaker's
production plant in Georgetown, Ky., employs about 6,600 full-time
workers.
     
But last week, work shut down on one of two production lines at
the Georgetown plant as Toyota dealt with fallout from a recall
over a sticky accelerator.
     
Kim Menke, manager of community and government relations at the
Georgetown plant, said Hoffman's prayer request was well received
when he made it at a recent legislative breakfast.

WINTER WEATHER-DISABLED BUS
     
Stranded church group finds food, comfort in Md.

     
HANCOCK, Md. (AP) - A Chicago church group stranded on a western
Maryland highway after a ferocious weekend snowstorm has enjoyed
food and football courtesy of a small-town volunteer fire
department.
     
Hancock Fire Company Chief Greg Yost said Monday that 40 members
of the Deliverance Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith joined
local firefighters at their annual Super Bowl party Sunday night.
     
Yost says the group's bus broke down on Interstate 70 near
Hancock as they were returning from a trip to Baltimore. So rescue
workers brought the travelers to the fire hall for a feast of
steak, shrimp, hamburgers, hot dogs, baked potatoes, spaghetti and
chili.
     
He says they watched most of the Super Bowl before hitting the
road in their repaired vehicle.

TEXAS CHURCH FIRES
     
Arson blamed for another Texas church fire

     
DALLAS (AP) - Investigators have concluded that a seventh east
Texas church fire this year was intentionally set.
     
Tom Crowley -- a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives -- says arson destroyed the
sanctuary of the Russell Memorial United Methodist Church in Wills
Point.
     
He previously had said arson caused six other east Texas church
fires this year -- two in Tyler, one in nearby Lindale and three in
the Athens area.
     
In central Texas, ATF agents from Houston concluded that arson
was to blame for a fire last month that destroyed the sanctuary of
the First Baptist Church in Temple.
     
No injuries have been reported. Crowley says some similarities
have been found in the east Texas fires, but also some differences
-- such as the different times of day the fires were set.

GLOBAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
     
Congress told that U.S. should promote religious rights abroad

     
WASHINGTON (AP) - Members of Congress have been told that U.S.
foreign policy should place greater importance on whether nations
respect their citizens' religious rights.
     
Knox Thames (TEMZ), the Acting Executive Director of the U.S.
Commission on International Religious Freedom, told a House
subcommittee that the freedom to practice, teach and change one's
religion is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
but is restricted in many countries.
     
He said promoting religious liberty can help fight terrorism and
boost respect for other human rights.
     
But Thames noted that President Barack Obama, after more than a
year in office, has yet to fill the State Department's position of
Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom.

     
TEN COMMANDMENTS-COURTHOUSE
     
Courthouse commandments display ignores Ga. law

     
REIDSVILLE, Ga. (AP) - Officials in Georgia's Tattnall County
say they didn't know they were running afoul of state law when they
let members of a Baptist church hang a framed copy of the Ten
Commandments inside the county courthouse last week.
    
County Commission Chairman Frank Murphy says officials told
members of Ella Grove Baptist Church that they could display the
biblical text inside the courthouse because it's a historical
document.
     
What they didn't realize is a 2006 state law requires eight
other documents, such as the Declaration of Independence, to be
posted alongside the Ten Commandments to give them historical
context.
     
Murphy says county officials will comply with the law. But
Debbie Seagraves of the American Civil Liberties Union said the
county should remove the Commandments until then.

INSTRUCTOR BIAS
     
ACLU accuses science teacher of religion lessons

     
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union says a
science instructor at Fresno City College is illegally teaching
religious views on homosexuality and abortion as fact.
     
ACLU staff attorney Elizabeth Gill sent a letter to college
officials on Monday about the introductory science class
instructor, Bradley Lopez. Gill says Lopez's teaching methods
violate California laws protecting gays from discrimination and
prohibiting religious indoctrination at public schools.
     
Gill says several students have complained that he quoted the
Bible to prove that human life begins at conception. They also say
he characterized homosexuality as a mental illness that degrades
society.
     
Telephone calls to Lopez and a college spokeswoman were not
immediately returned.

VATICAN-SEX ABUSE
     
Pope Benedict condemns child molestation by priests

     
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI is condemning the
molestation of children by priests, saying the church will never
stop deploring such behavior.
     
Benedict says that for centuries the Catholic Church had shown
its commitment to loving and respecting children and ensuring their
basic human rights are respected.
     
But he says some priests, "acting in contrast to this
commitment, have violated these rights -- a behavior that the
church hasn't, and won't ever stop deploring and condemning."
     
In his speech Monday, Benedict said children deserve to be loved
and respected by all, and that they flourish best in a family
founded on the marriage between a man and woman. He added that
couples should do everything possible to avoid separation and
should stay together for the sake of their children.

SWEDEN-HANDSHAKE REFUSAL
     
Muslim man wins discrimination case in Sweden

     
STOCKHOLM (AP) - Sweden's unemployment agency has been found
guilty of discrimination for expelling a Muslim man from a job
training program because he refused to shake hands with a woman.
     
A Stockholm court Monday ordered the Public Employment Service
to pay the $6,700 in damages to an immigrant from Bosnia who lost
his jobless benefits when he was kicked out of the program.
    
Citing his faith, the man had refused to shake hands with a
woman when he was interviewing for an internship. The agency said
his behavior was part of the reason he didn't get the position, and
decided to exclude him from the program.
     
The court ruled that the man was discriminated against because
of his religion. It wasn't immediately clear whether the ruling
would be appealed.

     
     
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)
     
AP-NY-02-09-10 0332EST